Former Olympian from Gaffney delivers story of fall, redemption

Monday

Oct 7, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 8, 2013 at 6:51 AM

When he was released from prison last year, Tim Montgomery began training athletes with aspirations of reaching the top of their sport. Being involved again with sports rejuvenated Montgomery and helped turn his once troubled life around.

By MATT CONNOLLY matthew.connolly@shj.com

Tim Montgomery's story had already been written.

The Gaffney native, who was at one time the world's fastest man, was a criminal and a cheater. Montgomery had his world record time of 9.78 in the 100-meter dash stripped because of steroid use. He was selling heroin and participating in a check fraud scheme when he was sent to jail in 2008, where he stayed for the next 4.5 years.

For all intents and purposes, his life was over. In fact, he considered taking his own life to make everything go away.

But rather than end his life, Montgomery chose to start a new one.

When he was released from prison last year, he began training athletes with aspirations of reaching the top of their sport. Being involved again with sports rejuvenated Montgomery and helped turn his once troubled life around.

Montgomery spent Monday back in Gaffney at Limestone College, sharing his story with student-athletes just a couple of miles from where his tale began.

When he was in junior high school in Gaffney, Montgomery saw a classmate wearing a Gaffney High School letter jacket. He had to have one and went out for the track team.

Soon, Montgomery was recognized as the fastest person in the school. He went through high school and was recruited to run track, but he didn't think college was for him.

Everything changed one night when he saw a friend get into an argument and shoot someone, killing them on the spot.

“I ran home. I went in and I searched through the letters to go to college,” he said.

Montgomery originally attended Blinn Junior College in Texas before moving on to Norfolk State. While in college, Montgomery set the world junior record with a time of 9.96 when he was 19 years old, but that mark was discredited because of an illegal wind gauge.

Montgomery was told the wind gauge was against the fence instead of in the middle of the field.

Instead of being discouraged, Montgomery became more determined.

“I told myself, 'You know what, one day I'm going to break the world record.' ” Montgomery ran on the 4x100 team in the 1996 Olympics, earning a silver medal. He followed that up by winning a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics.

Two years later, he accomplished his goal of being the fastest man in the world.

“Out of 7.6 billion people, I became the world record holder,” he said. “It was like walking on air. In your mind you say you can do it. In your dreams you see yourself doing it, and to look back at that time and actually say that I did it, it's like giving birth.”

But the world turned over quickly for Montgomery. In 2005, Montgomery had that record, as well as his other accomplishments from March 31, 2001, on, stripped as part of the BALCO scandal involving Victor Conte.

In track and field, a sport that is constantly under scrutiny because of steroid use, Montgomery gave into the temptation and began using himself.

“Sometimes we choose to go with the fad,” he said. “If everybody else has the same haircut, we want their haircut. If everybody else has the same type of car, we want their car. You get stuck in this mentality that if they're doing it, I want to do it.”

To this day, track and field is still marred by performance enhancing drug scandals.

“There's only one person that's ever run faster than me that hasn't been involved in drugs and that's Usain Bolt,” Montgomery said. “No one else who has ran under 9.78 has not been involved in drugs.”

Montgomery was banned from track and field for two years and announced his retirement shortly thereafter.

His lavish lifestyle was over. He could no longer afford $75,000 boats, $18,000 watches or $16,000 necklaces.

Montgomery's Nike endorsement deal was done, and he went from making $30,000 to $40,000 a race to having no source of income.

“I went from being able to buy what I wanted and have what I wanted to people saying you don't have it anymore. I didn't want to be that person that didn't have it no more,” he said. “That was my measurement stick for success. When you went from having it to losing it, sometimes, it's better to not have ever received it.”

Struggling for money, Montgomery got involved with a check fraud scam with his coach and agent. They were caught and arrested.

“I used to say, 'I'll never do this. I'll never do that.' You never know what you'll do until you're put into the circumstances of a situation,” he said. “When I got into a situation, it was just one advice after another advice. It wasn't my own advice. If you look who I got in trouble with, I got in trouble with my coach and agents. I don't blame them, but the people around you are the people you tend to trust.

“Some of the times were suicidal. All I wanted to do was get back to running, and to get back to running I thought that I needed to have money. I said money will solve everything. If you're sick and you've got money, you can get well. If you're in trouble and you've got money, you can get out of it. That was my mind frame. I've got to have money, and I didn't care how I got the money.”

While Montgomery was out on bond, he began searching for other ways to make money. He was told the best way to get quick cash was to sell heroin.

“Deciding to sell drugs was something to where I had told myself, 'Well, the government sells cigarettes and that kills people. They sell alcohol and that kills people. They sell guns and that kills people.' If you try to justify something long enough, you're going to make it right to yourself even if it's wrong,” he said. “As I look back on it, I was just trying to make money.”

Montgomery was once again arrested. He knew he was going to jail. While waiting to be sentenced he was told by other soon-to-be inmates to expect to spend 17 years in prison.

Hounded again by thoughts of suicide, Montgomery was approached by an inmate who encouraged him to keep fighting for his life. The guy sent Montgomery a Bible and told him he could get his life back by reading it.

Montgomery did, and soon he once again had something to live for. He began sharing his knowledge and training inmates.

“I was able to coach a lot of inmates and see improvement. I said 'Hey, I've got another gift.' Everything I've learned, not just from running, but from training, I could share that,” he said.

Montgomery was inspired to work with kids, and when he got out of prison 4.5 years later, he did. He faced many doubters at first, but ignored them and kept pushing.

“When I got out, people said, 'Who's going to let you train their kids? Who's going to trust you with a check? Who's going to trust their kids with a heroin dealer?' I didn't let it affect me, because the same people said how are you going to break the world record?” he said. “I just gave it to God and said, 'Hey, I'm going to start with one kid.' I started with one kid. She improved and the word spread.”

On Monday, Montgomery was back in Gaffney where it all started, helping the track team at Limestone in the afternoon, taking them through drills and sharing his knowledge. The Saints practice at Gaffney High School, providing Montgomery the first opportunity to see the new school.

“Coming out here and seeing a rubber track, seeing a manicured field, seeing a stadium, seeing a great place for kids to get a great education in a great environment, it just makes me smile,” he said. “It makes me say that I want to be a part of this.”

Montgomery even participated in a race, going up against Tim Foster, a graduate of Gaffney High School.

Foster beat the 38-yearold Montgomery, but just barely.

“I took my first loss ever at Gaffney,” Montgomery exclaimed after the race.

Foster said he enjoyed the opportunity to learn from a track legend.

“It was a great experience,” Foster said. “It was unparalleled. I've run track and field for a long time, but I've never seen someone who could break down each and every aspect of sprint mechanics like he could.”

Cameron Babb, the track and field coach at Limestone, said Montgomery's advice was beneficial for both the athletes and coaches.

“It's definitely something that not a lot of schools can say they had a former world's fastest man show up and hang out with them for a practice,” he said. “It's been fun having him out here.”

Monday night, Montgomery shared his story with Limestone student-athletes and coaches. He advised them to make smart choices in life and make the most out of every opportunity.

“It was very motivational and inspirational,” he said. “It's good to have that kind of leadership. It encourages the athletes to excel and do better in their sport.”

Montgomery's parents, Eddie and Marjorie, also were in attendance to hear their son speak.

Eddie said he is proud to see his son back on the right track.

“It was painful, but you know that whatever goes down is going to come up if you trained him and brought him up right,” Eddie said. “We have confidence in the way we brought him up.”

Montgomery now lives in Gainesville, Fla., doing what he loves, making a living while working in track and field.

Despite no longer being able to race at a world-class level, Montgomery feels like he is as happy now as he has ever been.

“I couldn't even sleep last night,” he said. “The speech had me feeling like I'm about to race Usain Bolt for an Olympic title. I'm back into my element. I hadn't been on a plane since 2007 (before flying to Gaffney). I'm doing the same stuff that I was doing as an athlete, but I'm doing it right this time.”

Montgomery still feels pain for some of the mistakes he made, including selling drugs. But he said helping kids eases some of his pain.

“That's why I give back to these kids, because some of these kids, I took their Christmas,” he said. “I'm responsible for their parents that were on drugs that didn't get what they were supposed to have. I owe it to them.”

One of the kids he is helping is his daughter, Tamiah, who has aspirations of being an Olympic medalist one day, just like her dad.

Montgomery said his five children have been another strong influence in helping his already written tale have a different ending.

“For me to rewrite my story, it's a story for them,” he said. “When they're dad dies, they can say their dad made a change. He actually gave back in life instead of taking away in life.”